Tottenham fans can finally put the Mauricio Pochettino reunion to rest

As combustible as Roberto De Zerbi is and while our start to the 2026/27 season has been anything but perfect, there’s no sense that Tottenham Hotspur will be back on the managerial hunt anytime soon.

A 1-0 defeat to Leeds United stung, no doubt, but the loss arrived after three consecutive victories, including an all-too-rare triumph at Stamford Bridge. We’re currently enjoying the safety of mid-table, and despite the absence of a perennial goalscorer, we certainly look as if we’re heading in the right direction under De Zerbi.

Our current boss was tasked with clearing up primarily Thomas Frank’s mess after Igor Tudor made things worse. It was during this bleak, miserable period, when a stunning relegation was veering towards inevitability, that a feel-good reunion was more enticing than ever.

So many of us have been obsessed with Mauricio Pochettino returning to N17 ever since he received his marching orders in November 2019, just months after guiding the club to the Champions League final.

Despite his west London excursion in 2023/24, plenty sought to forgive when it seemed as if a return was on the cards earlier this year. However, the Argentine’s committment to the USMNT scuppered this utopia, and De Zerbi’s seismic effort to keep the club up ultimately meant we were grateful.

And now, it’s time to put the idea of Pochettino ever returning to N17 to rest.

Manchester United have courted Pochettino for the best part of a decade. The Red Devils have wanted to appoint the 54-year-old at four different junctures amid their managerial merry-go-round, including in 2016, when Sir Alex Ferguson met with the then-Spurs boss to discuss the job in the event of Louis van Gaal’s exit.

Naysayers suggest Poch is beyond his best, with his tactical framework supposedly years outdated. That’s why some Spurs fans were skeptical about his potential return, warning those blinded by nostalgia that the manager we’d be hiring wasn't the same breath of fresh air who rocked up in 2014.

It’s true that Poch hasn’t produced a great Premier League team since 2017, but the latter days of his Tottenham tenure were hindered by a stadium move and a lack of investment in personnel. He also finished his sole season at Chelsea strong, getting the best out of Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson as an attacking duo.

His USMNT were dynamic and exuberant at the World Cup until the Folarin Balogun debacle disrupted their momentum, crashing out in the round of 16 to Belgium. Pochettino certainly didn’t look tactically outdated on the international stage, but club football, and the Premier League, particularly, is a different beast.

Fabrizio Romano is among those to report that the former Tottenham boss is ready to accept Man Utd’s proposal. The Red Devils are expected to sack Michael Carrick this week and appoint Pochettino. It'll cost the club $10 million to buy him out of his USMNT contract, which he signed after the World Cup.

It’s all but done. Ultimately, I don’t feel all that much. I love Pochettino and will always cherish the era he oversaw at Spurs, when anything appeared possible. But I'm no longer pining for the Argentine to come home. That ship has sailed now.

He’ll hope to still be in the job when Man Utd visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the penultimate matchday of the season.